CALIFORNIA -- On March 05, 2008, I had to wire transfer funds to family outside of the US. It was an emergency and therefore, I spoke to WAMU Customer Service about doing such a transfer. They assured me that the transfer can be handled through WAMU without any problems and will take only 2 - 3 business days. When asked if we could use Citibank as the intermediary bank since the international account is a Citibank account, they said yes, that would be no problem. I went to our branch in Rancho Cucamonga with all of the necessary information to wire transfer $2,000.00 to our family and into their Citibank account. I specifically gave the Teller handling the transaction all of the Citibank information along with a Citibank Internal SWIFT Code to ensure delivery. I explained it to her; however, she insisted that HSBC had to be used as the intermediary bank. When she tried to enter the SWIFT Code, it failed, so I again explained to her that it is an Internal SWIFT Code for Citibank. She explained that she would forward the Citibank information to HSBC. Hell, she could not even get the account documentation correct. Long story short, they lost the funds and I ended up having to research everything. They could not give me a straight answer as to the tracking information with HSBC and Citibank said they never saw it come through. When it was reported to WAMU Executive Services, Christian, he promised to locate the problem and contact me back that same day, March 10th. I never received a call back from him. I did however provide him with the information originally given to the teller at the Rancho Cucamonga Branch.
On Friday, March 14th, the funds magically appeared in the Citibank account that they were being sent to. I still had not received a call from Christian regarding the status of the funds. I had made several attempts to contact his manager and to no avail. I also made numerous attempts to contact Mr. Thomas Casey, EVP/CFO and Mr. Kerry Killinger, Chairman/CEO. I was blocked from speaking to them by the switchboard. I ended up flying to Seattle and met with investigative reporters there at the SEATAC Airport, then returning on March 12th. I lost 2 days of work behind this incident at a cost of $500.00 per day, on top of the ticket to fly there, for which I was refused a meeting after having been invited. We had to secure an emergency loan for the family in that country for the amount we sent. We are out well over $1,500.00 in losses total which includes the interest we paid for the short term loan. WAMU has yet to accept responsibility for this incident. I finally received a call from Christian on March 24th at 9:31am, advising me that the funds had made it to the destination.

However, the situation with WAMU became worse on March 24th. I learned of a withdrawal of $1,026.00 that took place on March 20th from our checking account at approximately 4:53pm. Before contacting WAMU, I called my wife and asked her about it, since the on-line statement shows it as a Customer Withdrawal. She said has no clue as to the withdrawal and suggested I call WAMU. I did and was told that we withdrew the funds from the Escondido Branch. Clearly, this wasn't the case so I requested information on this withdrawal. I was transferred to a fraud investigator who informed me that the withdrawal was made in Escondido California. She stated the withdrawal was against a check deposit of $2,200.00. Naturally, this deposit does not show up on our online account as all others do. I asked her about that and she replied that deposit never show up that same day on the online banking. This was incorrect information and I know this was false since they do appear on-line after a deposit is made the same day, just as withdrawals are. She contacted the branch where the transaction took place and was convinced that the funds were supposed to be for another account. I am convinced otherwise as she said in the beginning that this was likely someone using our account to defraud the bank. How is it that the tellers do not check identification? I have all mine and so does my wife. We also have our cards and PIN's are never written down.

The investigator told me she would get the deposit slip and a copy of the check for me so as to file crime report with the Escondido Police Department. I was ready to go to Escondido to meet with EPD Fraud Investigators when I was convinced that it would not be necessary. Needless to say, I did file a report.

I again call corporate Executive Services and again, I had to speak with Christian. Gave him the information and was told that this matter would be expedited. I was also assured that there would be no fee's for any transactions coming in.

On March 25th, they charged our account 2 overdraft fees of $30.00 each (We changed banks and put the money elsewhere because of the problems prior to the March 20th incident and left the $1,026.00 in the account to cover outstanding transactions). I sent the customer service unit an e-mail on each transaction including the theft. They replied that they are fee's owed for the transactions and that WE took the $1,026.00 out of the account in Pullman Washington! Needless to say, this is incorrect and very WRONG.

Since this matter came to light, we have been given 3 different stories as to what had taken place with our funds. Again, Executive Response is not being very responsive and making excuses. I have come to know that their job is not to help WAMU customers, but protect those at the executive level. I have also learned that Customer Service knows little about escalating matters such as this to Quality Assurance or Executive Response. In fact, when I questioned Customer Service, they believe they are the ones who handle all complaint issues.

Clearly, the business philosophy of those in the Executive Management Team starts with 1 word â âGREEDâ. While making a minimum BASE salary of $900,000.00 annually and a very liberal bonus structure as the CEO of Washington Mutual, you would think that being sued for their mishandling of customers and investors might cause Mr. Killinger, his direct reports and the Board of Directors to take a closer look at how they are doing business and how they can save their investors and depositors millions of dollars each year. With a growing trend of complaints on internet consumer web sites regarding Washington Mutual, one might wonder if it is really worth doing business with them. With the economy falling into a recession and businesses closing their doors, investorâs losing millions of dollars, the mortgage industry taking dive. Is it not worth taking the time to hear what the consumers are saying? Business philosophy needs to change if they intend to remain in business. Consumers are looking for better deals, honesty, integrity and a company that is going to accept responsibility for its actions. Companies who are these things and strive for Quality in the care of their customers will be ultimately be successful in our current situation. As GREED is the current cause of our nations declining market. As executives, middle management and front line team members, we have to remember that we too are consumers and ask how we would want to be treated.

It is no secret, that when a corporate executive is faced with an issue of treatment or handling by someone of another company, they would in fact go straight to the top. They too would want to speak with their equal in handling their poor customer service experience or poor quality of product and service delivery. It happens every day. The end result of which is immediate satisfaction often time resulting in termination. It is a privilege they extend to one another. It is a privilege all should enjoy. If the executives do not like it, then do business honestly and with integrity.

Here a just a few of the web sites I have visited. For more, you can Google â âWashington Mutual Complaintsâ. There are literally hundreds if not thousands.

I would have been better off NOT contacting my lender for assistance! I did exactly what I was told to do and now I'm going to be

Posted by Mariah1 on 08/01/2009

BAYVIEW MEADOWS, FLORIDA -- I've been laid off for 1 1/2 years now. I'm still looking for work. My husband has a job so we watched every penny and still made our $2,800.00 a month house payment. I thought since we've been a WAMU customer for 15 years w/ a perfect payment history they would help me Modify our loan as the ARM was going to adjust in 8 months. THAT WAS THE WORST DECISION OF MY LIFE. I called WAMU, they said to download a form, fill it out and they would see what they could do. After 2 months waiting I finally got a response in writing Federal Expressed to my home. It stated to make zero payment for February and March, April & May pay $800.00 p/m. They told me we needed more funds in the bank for a modification and when they re-qualify us in 3 months they don't want to go through the process of a Modification if were are not able to make our payment. She stated any deferred interest will be charged in the back of the loan. I was so happy.... I thought after 23 years of hard work and ALWAYS paying our bills on time, that somehow we deserved this help. NOT TRUE.. At the end of the 3 months I was unable to talk to anyone! I re-applied for the Modification as promised,(beginning of May) and still it was like talking to a brick wall. I was allowed to talk to no one. I felt like a criminal. I kept saying what do I pay and what is the status? They stated over and over to wait for someone to call. NO one called. I received a Federal Express letter stating ... it read: REPAYMENT AGREEMENT. NO where did it address our Modification. It states pay $10,597.30, (which is the deferred interest), or pay us $1,000.00 MORE a month for a YEAR! which is $3,450.00 !!!!! Our credit score was 752 before I contacted our lender, now I don't know what it is. WAMU acted like my entire process did NOT even happen. We now have horrible credit, no house and now need for file BK.. They stated they DID NOT KNOW MY LOAN WAS UNDERWRITEN BY FANNIE MAE, THEREFORE ANY DEFERRED INTEREST MUST BE PAID UPFRONT. PERIOD. They would rather lose a loan of $483K plus a second for $69,500.00 instead of working with us. Had WAMU hired employees who knew what they were talking about back in February we would still be making our house payment and still have good credit. I expect the person on the other end of the phone to know what they are talking about... after all this is my HOME. My Security. My future and my kids' home.
Now we are facing Foreclosure and Bankruptcy and there is nothing else we can do. Thank you Washington Mutual for all your help.

MIAMI, FLORIDA -- Washington Mutual sells MONEY ORDERS. That is not the problem, the problem is that they do not back them up, it's a company from Colorado which backs up the money orders.

You better believe that - I found it out when I used one I had from a few years ago, to use as emergency money. I paid partly in cash and with a Washington Mutual money order to buy a vehicle.

Bank of America accepted the money order until Washington Mutual refused to honor it. Now I was facing a big financial loss. The seller had nighmares done to his credit and his accounts, we were both in financial hell. Quickly, I went to
WaMu and was surprised to be told to call the State of Florida, that WaMu had sent the money there as the money order had not been cashed. I am a weekly customer, with automatic deposit of salary check, why wasn't I contacted rather than the state? That time I was refused talking to the manager but the staff member informed me to call the state office which keeps unclaimed funds and when I did - TreasureHunt reported not having the funds.

After weeks of no info, I returned to the branch where I had originally bought the money orders. This time the manager was available. A few of her questions surprised me - such as asking me if I had ever had an account with them, the answer being yes, as long as they have been on the east coast. For about 2 hours, between other duties, she made phone calls using only her first name to numbers she gathered on her computer. Then she told me to get a lawyer, WAMU could not redeem the eschewed money orders. I asked her to please identify herself as a bank officer as it had more influence than my making more dead-end phone calls, which she finally did when we were approaching 3 hours of refusals.

It helped, of course it helped, she got someone to ask her to fax copies of the money orders. Now she gave me a final phone number to call myself and as a nice gesture called it herself. It was the number for a pain clinic.

We were both exhausted by this time and I agreed to return 2 days later to give time for the fax to be answered. I did more research and found that the mystery company is owned by American Express. I called the branch manager to thank her for her work and to give her the specific phone number which is current for now.

In time the funds will be returned, it takes between six-eight weeks, and I am still waiting.

I am hopeful this will be the end of it all. However, I am prompted by those who I tell of this experience to write about it, to inform others how money orders purchased at a bank are not necessarily a product of the bank, how money orders have expiration dates, seven years if purchased at a bank and ten years if bought from the US Post Office.

I wish I had known this and not listened to Washington Mutual staff assurances - "our money orders are safe forever as long as you don't date them." It's not true... no way!

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WAMU and fraud activity

Posted by R_Dean on 04/05/2009

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA -- After a long session on the phone today I did find out some interesting facts about my accounts with WAMU. I took my family to dinner Saturday night and then re-newed a subscription to a well known professional community service. The WAMU computer saw these activities as suspicious and suspended my account. I received a call from an automated service to verify the charges were made by me, which I did with reserve. I had to use another credit card to complete the transaction and did not want to have it repeated in the event that the WAMU service put the original transaction through. After nearly 2 hours on the phone, being told there was no answer for my question, and even told the fraud department was closed on Sunday, I found out the following from [snip]:

1) The WAMU computer will "review" account activity and suspend accounts, no explanation given why a dinner with my family would be considered fraud.

2) Upon suspending the account, the customer needs to call WAMU to have a review with a banker before the account can be used again.

3) I signed up and agreed to this action in the terms and conditions and I should have read this. In no way is there text which covers what is considered fraudulent use on my card.

If I am on-site dining with my family, or making a purchase on a secured site with an abundance of information included, what do I need to do, or how do I need to insure the use of my card will not trigger such suspensions. And why does it take multiple people and indifferent customer service people to simply say this is what it is, I can always change banks at my desire. Thank you WAMU for respecting customer loyalty and your customers concern about how it may be possible to exist well together.

With one foot out the door Sunday morning and the intent of using my card to make purchases, I now know I must carry other cards with me to insure I do not get stuck, my confidence in WAMU is damaged, my confidence in the customer service process at WAMU is destroyed.

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WaMu Screwed Me They Will Screw You Too

Posted by Joye on 03/12/2009

I recently sent this to WaMu, it says it all!

Attention: WAMU SUPERVISOR

I recently mailed a deposit of $500.00 to my WaMu Account # XXXXXXXX. It posted to my account on 3/10/09. I called the 1-800 number to see if it was available because it said Pending hold. The guy I spoke with said that the whole check was available. I went to the Chase branch to make a withdrawal and it was NOT available.

I then called the 800 number back. Spoke with a lady and she said, no he was wrong it wonât be available until Thursday. You have $100 available now. Okâ¦.

This morning (3/11/09) I found out that my husband will be shipping from Fort Benning Ga, to Afghanistan for a year. I need to get to Fort Benning before he leaves. The only way to do that is to call WaMu and ask if they could release the funds one day early.

So! I call yet again and I am told that I must go into the branch in which I made the deposit. OK, it was mailed. The lady then said there is nothing we can do to help you. I asked to speak with someone else. I have only 2 days to get to Fort Benning.

I was then put through to a Floor Manager, who was about the rudest person I have EVER spoken with. Again, expecting some kind of compassion I explained the story yet again. She now tells me that, no the check wonât be available until 3/17/09. The previous 3 people I spoke with were wrong. There is nothing she can (will) do. Call back tomorrow. How can I possibly get to Fort Benning in 1 day driving? I asked to speak with her supervisor. She said there isnât one above her.

She ended up transferring me to the Risk department where I got to explain EVERYTHING again. This lady basically said you have already discussed this with us and we can do nothing. And oh, yeah, the floor manager was wrong, this won't clear until the 18th. She then disconnected the call.

Thank you so much Wamu for having some compassion. Thank you for taking the time to help me. Thank you for helping me have the chance to see my husband before he is sent to war, from which he may not come back from. Thank you Wamu for nothing.

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Washington Mutual Credit Card Interest Rate Rip Off

Posted by DawnG on 10/24/2008

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- I have been a long-standing credit card customer of Washington Mutual, I pay on-time and would consider myself a valued customer. Unfortunately, they don't feel the same way. They doubled my interest rate out of the blue for no good reason. I've been employed at the same company for 10 years, I own my home, I have a brand new car that I'm currently half-way through my loan cycle for, I pay MORE than the required payment on pretty much every bill I have, I have no negative marks on my credit, no late pays, so what is the reason for this interest rate increase? I pick up the phone to find out. I am immediately greeted by a gentleman calling himself Brandon but clearly has a thick accent and is clearly reading from a script. He tells me he cannot help me as they periodically review credit cards for an interest rate reduction so I'll just have to sit around crossing my fingers and hoping I get one in the near future. I will be notified by mail. "Brandon" offered me no good explanation as to why my interest rate has doubled, his script tells him to let me know that they base the rate off of my FICO score and various other reporting sources.

Since Brandon was of absolutely no help to me, I ask to speak with an account manager vs. a customer service representative that has memorized the answers to my questions. The script tells Brandon to let me know that the account staff are on the other side of the building and there is no way for him to reach them for me, he has no phone numbers and again, I'll just have to wait on a periodic review of my account. I have to wonder, does Brandon have feet? Can he not walk to the other side of the building and obtain an account person for me? Does Brandon not have a company listing of staff? With absolutely no help being provided to me at this point, I must ask Brandon what he is going to do when I hang up this phone.

The answer to this question my friends, you're not going to believe this, the answer is nothing. Brandon is going to do nothing. Hmmmm....and why does he work there? To do nothing? We are paying him, with the elevated interest he is able to keep us at with his diversion tactics, for nothing folks! After going in circles with this guy that is barely understandable, I demand to speak with the supervisor. It was like a bad dream replaying....here comes Nigel the supervisor and wouldn't ya know, another accent and another script. The only difference, Nigel says I had the opportunity to close my account if I were not happy with the interest rate they notified me of a few months back. Now I'm no rocket scientist here folks but I'm also not a dummy, you don't just close out a long-standing account.

Talk about a FICO score in the toilet! This is the solution to my problem, just close the account if I am not happy. Hmmm.....and this is the Customer Service Department you say??? At this point, I have had it with their utter lack of intelligence and disregard for their customers so I tell it just as it is,they are punishing the good customers with a higher interest rate to make up for their losses on home foreclosures! We all know this. It's been on the news for gods sake! They were in such financial distress that Chase had to come and rescue them! We are not blind, deaf or dumb here. I tell Nigel that if he does not care about his customer's satisfaction then I will just not be their customer as they wish. Nigel really doesn't care. I'll have to just wait on a periodic review or, I can just close my account.

Those are my options. That's what I get for paying on time and being a loyal customer. I've never felt so loved and appreciated. For all his hard work and concern, I tell Nigel that I hope he still has a job when Chase takes over. And the worst part, I think Nigel thought I was being serious....

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Poor Customer Service And Disrespect

Posted by skiingrob on 08/04/2008

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK -- To make a long story short, I have a checking/savings account and credit card account with WAMU. On 7/31 I found I my credit card was frozen. I wonder why because I made my payment which was actually more than my statement ending balance sometime between the 15th and 18th of the month as this is when I pay all my bills. I thought my card was stolen or something like that. Turns out my electronic payment never went through. I asked them why they frozen an account with a perfect history, and I mean never late and only 1 or two months did not pay off the balance in full (and this was because of my wedding in March), without calling me, the card holder and only name on the account.

They told me it was policy to put a hold on a delinquent account. Now this made me mad b/c I am a 25 y/o who takes great pride in being financially independent, out of debt, no student loans, and just paid off my wedding from March. I keep a very accurate accounting book, but I forgot one rule, always write down the confirmation number when doing an online payment. Anyway, I made an express payment over the phone got them to wave the 14.95 fee and take off the $39 non-payment fee. Now today, 8/4 nothing had posted to my account. Not the payment, not the two credits, but what was there was a $10.03 finance charge. I called again this morning and was told that it takes up to 2 (TWO) billing cycles to credit an account. The finance charge was interest because I carried a balance.

I again explained that I made the electronic payment as I have done every month for about 2 years since opening my account and it did not go through. They put me on hold and the call disconnected. Okay I thought, these things happen to everyone who works in an office occasionally. Called back, explained the same story and was told that they needed to review my account. Again disconnected...or I should say hung up on!!! I may be mad as anything right now, but when I deal with customer service I am nice and to the point. You donât mess with people who can easily hurt you, like waiters (or food handlers) or customer service people. I had to speak with the accounting supervisor on staff just to have the finance charge reversed, but again, it takes up to 2 billing cycles to credit my account.

I have never had an issue with them before, and I will never have another one as I will be closing my accounts with them once my $65 in fees are refunded. In addition to all this, I wrote an email to them regarding everything that happened on 7/31 and all I received was an email stating the last payment I made. Poor Poor Poor customer service (except for the supervisor who did correctly fix my problems without any phone disconnections.) Also, for those of you who care, WAMU outsources its call center to India at night. These were the people who I spoke with on 7/31 as I was paying for a dinner for my wife and friend at 10:30pm EST when this happened. These people were rude and demeaning, talking to me as though I was a dead beat who owes tens of thousands of dollars and has never paid my bill. If you talked to me 7 days ago I would have recommended WAMU to anyone. Now I will tell people to look else were. To any WAMU reps who read this, tell you company heads to take a long look in the mirror to see what WAMU has become. Sorry, guess this was not short after all.

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Overdraft Charges And Bank Errors

Posted by angryconsumer#1000 on 05/22/2008

I have more than just one complaint for this company. So let's start on day one... I opened my checking and savings account with about $3000 in cash. So all the girl needed to do was DEPOSIT. But instead the bank teller decided to TRANSFER an extra $1000 from someone else's account into mine at the same time. So as the days went on I paid bills and went shopping and kept tracking the numbers in my little check book. Also, the savings account was pulling money out of the checking every month just like it was supposed to. All of a sudden two months later Washington Mutual withdrawals $1000 from my savings account which was supposed to only have about $150 in it. The only thing the transaction history said was " amount owed to WaMu." huh? So I called and told them what happened. The man said he would look into it and call me back. (I never heard from him again) BUT they made sure to pull the $1000 from the correct account...my checking.

So I was exactly -$850 in my savings and -$500 in my checking. I called and they told me that even though it was a bank error I did spend the money and had to pay it back. They closed both my accounts and I had to pay $850 then they returned the extra $1000 that they took from my checking. THEY NEVER RETURNED THE OVERDRAFT CHARGES! And now I just learned they sent my "claim" to a business who puts your name on a list that pretty much lets every bank know you can't open an account... for 10 years!

Luckily I already had another account opened. It was a Washington Mutual account but it was the only one I could use. recently some of their policies have changed. My hair dresser of three years accidentally charged my card twice. so instead of $250 being taken out she charged $500 and overdrew my account. I called her to let her know and she said she would put it back no problem. Then I called Wamu to tell them that she would fix it and they could reverse the overdraft charges. they informed me, once more, that it was not a bank error and that they would not reverse the overdraft charge.

I'm sorry but that means I have to pay for something that is definitely not my fault. they told me to call the merchant and have them pay the fee. So now I have to call my sweet hairdresser who made an honest mistake and tell her to, practically, give me back the tip I gave her that day. Unbelievable! Thank god my hairdresser uses a credit card company and it was their fault so they are going to pay for it. But still. Washington mutual just got $30 for free...something is wrong here. If the mistake had not happened they would never have taken out that $30. And it didn't mess up there funds... it was mine so I should get the extra $30 if anyone.

The point is Washington Mutual will find any way to STEAL money from you! DO NOT BANK WITH THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Injustice is celebrated at this company

Posted by fight for justice on 03/25/2008

AUSTIN, TEXAS -- I opened a free checking account at Washington Mutual and all I can say is that you get what you pay for. I used the online bill pay service to pay my rent which is due on the 5th of the month. On the 29th I went online and checked the appropriate boxes to have a check sent to my landlord, received a confirmation number and was told it would arrive no later than the 4th. The money came out of my account immediately on the 29th.

On the 6th I was contacted by my landlord (while I was on vacation) and told that the check had not yet come so I immediately called the 1-800 WAMU “customer service” number. After pushing 2, pushing 3, pushing 5, pushing 1, pushing 0, holding for 15 minutes I finally was in contact with a girl from India who could not understand me and could only read from a script. After 10 painful minutes of trying to find out where the promised check was, I was put on hold AGAIN and transferred to a guy in Texas who told me to wait a few more days and the check should get there. So after more than an hour on the phone, nothing happened. Meanwhile I was incurring late fees and was told that WAMU would pay these.

This went on for at least an hour every day until the 16th when I finally put a stop payment on the check and was told that the money should be back in my account within 5-7 business days! They took my money out of the account in moments yet somehow cannot put it back in for a week? I was able to finally pay rent on the 21st by taking time from work and driving a money order across town (because I do not trust their checks at this point). Then began the arduous process of getting WAMU to pay the $90 in late fees owed to my landlord.

When I returned from vacation I went into my local branch where the branch manager had to get on the phone, push 2, push 3, push 0, put on hold for 15 minutes etc etc etc. After an hour of watching this “manager” go through what I had daily for the past 2 weeks, I told them just to call me when they found out which form I needed to fill out or whatever.

To date, Washington Mutual has said they are not responsible for my late fees. The injustice is what makes me so crazy. Crazy enough to post this complaint on every site that will take it, and I tell all of my friends and associates to NEVER use Washington Mutual. They are dishonest and clueless about where our money is. If I displayed this level of incompetence at my job, I would be perpetually unemployed.